In order to achieve economical production rates, toaster pastries can be conveyed through a baking oven and other processing zones as a series of rows of individual generally rectangular pastries wherein the pastries in a row are parallel to each other and in a line which is perpendicular to the direction of travel. Due to vibration of the equipment or other factors some of the pastries in a row can become skewed, i.e., the centerline of the pastry is at an angle to the direction of travel, and/or misaligned, i.e., one or more pastries in a row lead or trail the other pastries in that row. However, some of the processing operations, and particularly the packing operation, can require that the pastries in a row be correctly oriented and aligned.
One mechanism which has been employed to provide the desired alignment of the pastries incorporates a barrier gate which is periodically lowered downwardly onto the conveying surface to catch and align the pastries. However, if the pastries are staggered or skewed excessively, the gate can land on one or more of the pastries rather than landing clearly between two rows. Alignment cannot be achieved if the gate lands on a pastry, and the impact can chip or break the pastry, which produces an unacceptable appearance. Efforts to avoid these problems have generally involved substantially increasing the distance between successive rows, but this can decrease the production rate and/or increase the length of the conveyor. For some devices of this type the minimum effective spacing between adjacent rows is three times the length of the product. The associated acceleration belt can be as much as ten feet in length.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved method and apparatus for conveying a plurality of articles in successive rows and for aligning the articles within a row. Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for presenting an alignment surface to a plurality of articles moving in directions parallel to each other and generally perpendicular to the alignment surface. Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved system for controlling the alignment operation. A further object of the invention is to avoid damage to the articles being aligned. Other objects, aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a study of the specification, the drawings and the appended claims to the invention.